Babymoon Part 2: Canary Island Cruise [At Sea Days and Casablanca, Morocco]

[Day 2] Our babymoon cruise [NCL's Norwegian Spirit] was underway as we cruised towards Casablanca.  We awoke abruptly that first morning when something went haywire with our toilet and water was spilling out onto the bathroom floor.  Thankfully it was breakfast time so we grabbed a big breakfast in the lovely Windows dining room as maintenance dealt with the issue.

We kept it low key all day and just hung out in various lounges.  I read about five books during the trip.  The weather outside was too cold to think about swimming or relaxing in a lounge chair.

[Day 3] The following morning we arrived in a new country - Morocco!  After the breakfast buffet, we disembarked and were ready to explore Casablanca on our own.  Our attempt to get a taxi did not work out.  We wanted to go directly to the mosque, but the guy that said he would drive us tried to sell us on a "tour".  We said no thank you and then walked there instead.  It was roughly a 5k walk there, but on non-existent sidewalks for the most part.

Once we arrived at the mosque, we tried to purchase tickets for the next available tour.  Their credit card machine was not working and we did not have the local currency since we would only be there a few hours.  So we found a nearby ATM and then were able to book the 3pm tour.  There are specific times spaced around prayers.

Since we had time to burn, our next stop was for lunch at Rick's Cafe.  It's not the real deal from Casablanca movie, but it was fun and they seated us at the best seat in the house!

After lunch we attempted to find the old medina (shopping area), but only found the residential part. It was just fine because we decided to head back to the mosque for our tour.  My watch was still on ship time (GMT+1), but our phones switched to GMT.  We were not sure what time it actually was so arrived back at the mosque early hoping that would be our time to tour.  Later we learned Morocco recently stopped following daylight savings so it was still on GMT+1 with Barcelona.  Made for a very confusing day when we were not 100% sure what time it was.  T-Mobile phones had not received this update....

The Hassan II Mosque is absolutely gorgeous. The roof retracts like a sports stadium (no AC), but they do have heated floors.  They have over 200 custodians to help keep the place clean and almost all construction materials came from Morocco.  The exceptions are Venetian glass chandeliers and Italian marble in the niche.

We then toured the absolution area then it was time to walk back to the boat.  Somewhere along the way, my half marathon training injury flared up with a vengeance and bothered me the rest of the trip until I got home and back to my walking boot.  My watch said I had done over 30,000 steps during our adventures in Casablanca.

Once back on the boat, I iced my foot and relaxed.  The next day [Day 4] was another at sea day as we made our way towards the Canary Islands.  I had breakfast in the fancy restaurant again.  The highlight of the day was spotting a pod of dolphins!  The rest of the day was spent lounging around the boat.